Drive

Synopsis

A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

Director

Cast

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by evansweet1214 10 / 10

A Tense and Often Beautiful Masterpiece.

You might hear one comparing this to a Tarantino film, but leave all
worries at the door, this is an absorbing and tremendously unique piece
of cinema from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. The reason it
works so exquisitely well is because the film grabs hold of you and
takes you inside this often dark and dream-like LA setting. So, when
the end of the film hits, you feel apart of this film, and it's there
to stay.

This film also offers a Ryan Gosling like you've never seen him,
speaking only when necessary, with tension and fury in his eyes. He's
silent, caring, and ridiculously tough. Every line is delivered
perfectly and every gesture is natural.

I saw this at the LA Film Festival on a mammoth screen with booming
speakers. The music only makes this film more unique. It is catchy and
synchronized perfectly with the TRULY beautiful cinematography.

This film is the BEST of its genre. I honestly cannot compare it to any
other film, for it is truly that different. "Drive" is already the best
of the year, because I'm POSITIVE no other film will haunt and invade
me quite like this film has. This is not just a classic for its genre,
but a beautiful and bold classic in general.

Reviewed by CrispyCrunchy 10 / 10

-Cinema fantastic-

A truly beautiful and hypnotic film.

I've seen the last few Nicholas Winding Refn films, and while I liked
both Bronson and Valhalla Rising a lot, they were both "difficult"
films, in that both structure, pacing and tone were bound to alienate
some people, and of course they were both marketed as somewhat
mainstream films while being anything but.

Part of the irony of Refn's situation is that he makes films about
"Primal" man- and these protagonists invariably commit acts of great
violence on those around them. This violence puts his films into the
genre categories that Hollywood recognises and promotes to the public,
resulting in trailers for Refn movies that grossly misrepresent the
sophistication of the actual film. In that way, Valhalla's intense,
slow-burning and almost dialogue-free mythic exploration of our savage
past can be repackaged as a "Vlad the Viking goes to the New World"
action movie.

Yet both Valhalla and Bronson were highly "directed" films, revealing a
very strong hand in control of the material. And so, I was extremely
curious to see what Refn would do with the material, and whether he
would be able to rein in his sometimes obtrusive style in order to
allow the story more room to breathe... I shouldn't have worried. I
think the director has managed to balance a genuine artistry with the
demands of the genre in a way that is rarely, if ever, achieved. I
absolutely loved it. Just stay the hell away from the trailer, as it
reveals far too much, and again, misrepresents the film's true "feel".

While an ethereal synthesizer-pop soundtrack provides an at-times
tender,at-times mythic undercurrent, the car chases and action scenes,
when they come, are tense, brutal and brief- far more Eastern Promises
than The Transporter. Mulligan plays her character all trembly,
wet-eyed, sweet and innocent and is swept away by Gosling's quiet
strength and self-assured charm, while Gosling speaks little and
remains a mystery to the end, though we never doubt his fundamentally
good nature.

The seasoned supporting cast are all very fun, except maybe for
Kendricks who is relegated to a fairly irrelevant part. Of course, this
is really Gosling's film, and he inhabits the character completely,
turning what could be a straightforward Hollyood tough-guy role into a
complex and contradictory character, self-confident and physical, yet
clearly lonely and possessed with a certain peculiarity and stillness,
almost reminiscent of De Niro's Travis Bickle.

Despite its absolute craftsmanship, Driver is probably not for
everybody, which makes me sad. People who prefer bald-headed muscle men
slugging and wise-cracking their way into their wallets should of
course stay away, as this bears very little resemblance to the standard
Hollywood fare associated with the genre, and they might well be
disappointed.

But for me, Driver was sweet, surreal, mythic, tense, fun, hilarious,
revolting, and surprising. See it because it will make you a better
person.

And so, 10 out of 10, because it deserves it.

Reviewed by Colin George 5 / 10

Intelligent Adrenaline

After a summer of cheap thrills, Drive delivers thrills on the cheap. With a budget Michael Bay might have allocated for a single effects sequence in Transformers 3, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn made one of the best movies of the year. Following Bronson and Valhalla Rising, Refn crafts his most polished, commercial work yet, while retaining all the ambiguity and unbridled aggression of his tough-as-nails art house pictures.

Bearing thematic resemblance to Darren Aronofsky's recent output, Drive is like Black Swan in overdrive. The film pins its headlights on the dark implications of unchecked obsession and good intentions gone haywire. That dangerous duality Â– humanity on the razor's edge of animal brutality Â– is played to unnerving perfection by Ryan Gosling.

Rightly among the most reliable names on the Hollywood marquee, the star of Drive plays a crucible of a character. A friendly, fatherly figure to his neighbor (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, he's decidedly less so when the two are threatened. A sort of oblique, ultraviolent superhero, the driver leaps to defend the innocent with bloody determination. If the first half of Drive plays as drama, the second is straight up revenge fare.

Playing on the juxtaposition of calm and calamity, Refn keeps us on our toes throughout. Quiet moments stretch into suffocating silence, and the explosive violence that inevitably shatters it practically tears the frame in half. The audio is expertly mixed; you'll want to see Drive loud. From its roaring engines and visceral blows to its curt dialogue, the film is an altar to the power of great sound design.

In truth, Drive isn't pervasively violent, though its most excruciatingly effective moments leave a memory trail like tire streaks on a sunbaked highway. At the heart of the story is a compelling, surprisingly tender romance. Carey Mulligan has proved herself a similarly reliable talent to Gosling, and has worked in recent years with the likes of Michael Mann, Oliver Stone, and Mark Romanek.

Her fragile character's relationship with the driver is subtle and nuanced in a manner atypical of thriller convention. They're not family, they're not even sleeping together. Drive is not a sexy film. Refn fetishizes neither cars nor women; if The Fast and the Furious is the sleek exterior curves of an automobile, Drive is the greasy, undulating pistons. And it's utilitarian at a lean 100 minutes.

The rest of the small cast also impresses. Albert Brooks plays against type as a cutthroat crime lord, and a note-perfect Ron Perlman plays his meathead partner. Bryan Cranston of TV's Breaking Bad has a small role too, as employer and confidant to Gosling's character. Their relationships shuffle as lines are drawn and redrawn, but none of them comes away unscathed by the film's end.

Drive is either the explosive end to a lukewarm summer movie season or an early autumn adrenaline rush. In machismo, it far outpaces its hundred million dollar competition, leaving overwrought tales of lesser heroes like Thor and Green Lantern in the dust. Its troubled characters, and the bonds of desperation that link them, elevate the film above its genre trappings and shield it from disposable entertainment status.

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is an anomaly. It's like a 1200 horsepower hybrid. And it's one of the best movies of 2011.